Viking Rhine Getaway - Our photo intensive review on the Viking Ingvi, Summer 2014

[cruisinskier]

OK, so back to the review....

 

Now that we have toured the boat, I am going to move on to our itinerary. Our flight was Toronto - Brussels on July 18, arriving early July 19. At the airport, we had a rental van which we then drove to Ypres, Belgium which was our home base for the next 3 days. We had rented a flat using VRBO, a site we have used numerous times always with great success. This apartment was well situated and had lots of space for the 6 of us and the owner was great to deal with. (here is the link to the apartment: http://www.vrbo.com/811665ha)

 

Ypres is situated in the Flanders area and was a central location for WW1. Our goal was to visit numerous WW1 sites with an emphasis on those sites dedicated to Canadian troops. Ypres itself is a lovely town and worth a visit.

 

 

Cloth Hall

 

 

 

 

St Martin's Church

 

 

 

Enjoying the local beer

 

[cruisinskier]

There are many War memorials within this area, the main one in Ypres (now known as Ieper) being the Menon Gate which bears the names of more than 54,000 troops with no known grave marker.

 

 

Menon Gate

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Each evening at 8:00 pm, a service in performed at the Menon Gate including the playing of the last post and laying of wreaths. We attended the service this night and it was very moving to see. If you are anywhere near here, make sure you do not miss this service and the chance to pay your respects.

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The next morning we visited the In Flanders Fields Museum which was a great way to learn more about the war activity in this area. We also climbed the bell tower in Cloth Hall which provided great views over Ypres.

 

 

Uniforms worn by Canadian troops in WW1. My Father-in-law was a Korean war veteran and he saw this and said they had some of the same items that many years later...

 

 

Ypres from above

 

 

 

A small Canadian cemetery within town

 

[cruisinskier]

Our next stop was Vimy Ridge, a major site over the France border where Canadian troops were engaged and the site of a stunning Canadian memorial to the troops.

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Our next stop was the Beaumont-Hamel Memorial, a tribute to the Newfoundlanders in WW1. At the time of the war Newfoundland had not yet joined as a Canadian province.

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Our final stop for the day was at the Thiepval Memorial, a war memorial dedicated to 72,000+ missing British and South African men who died in the Battles of the Somme in WW1.

 

 

 

 

 

Poppies

 

 

Signs were evident marking where the front line was on certain dates

 

[cruisinskier]

The next day we set our again to visit a few more sites. Our first stop was a tribute to Canadian soldier John McCrae who penned the poem "In Flanders Fields"

 

 

 

Nearby we found a small cemetery in the middle of a corn field

 

[cruisinskier]

Our next stop was at the St Julien Memorial, also known as the Brooding Soldier

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Our final stop was at the Tyne Cot Cemetery, which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

Toasting those who served with another local brew

 

[cruisinskier]

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to post about our time in Leiden, Netherlands and then we move on to Amsterdam for 3 days and the start our river cruise. Have a great night all!

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

On Tuesday July 22, we left Ypres and drove north to Leiden, Netherlands. Our main reason for visiting is that our niece is living here while completing her PHD. We had a great visit with her and she had arranged for us to join a group of her friends for a two hour boat tour through the canals of Leiden. This was a great way to experience the charm of Leiden which could be reached via a short train ride from Amsterdam if you are looking for a day trip.

 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2014 by cruisinskier

[cruisinskier]

We really enjoyed the boat trip through the canals!

 

 

There were some low bridges along our route

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

More of the canal cruise...passing some houseboats

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

We really enjoyed our short time in Leiden!!!

 

 

There are some confusing bike signals...

 

 

 

Next up: Our time in Amsterdam (hope to post this evening)

Edited August 13, 2014 by cruisinskier

[banditoo]

Leidun looks lovely. Might consider that as a day trip from Amsterdam if we don't do day trip to Bruges. How long is the train ride between AMS and Leidun?

[tinylady]

Thank you so much for this amazing review and photos. We will be leaving on the 26th for a 14 day Amsterdam to Basel cruise with Scenic so I am doubly enjoying this.

Looking at the memorial pics made me wonder if you had seen the TVO series Apocalypse which just ended this week. It was very thought provoking and,if you didn't see it, I would strongly recommend it should they re screen it. I also saw another show recently that dealt with the Treaty of Versailles in detail. It may have been on Cogeco on demand, sorry can't remember the name.

Having originally come from the UK, I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of the First World War, however, both of these programs proved to me how little I actually knew.

Once again thanks so much for your review,

Mary

[RHexplorer]

Thank you for all of the photos. I like your approach of "a picture tells 1,000 words".

[cruisinskier]

Leidun looks lovely. Might consider that as a day trip from Amsterdam if we don't do day trip to Bruges. How long is the train ride between AMS and Leidun?

 

Hi Betty. I believe Leiden is roughly 25-30 minutes on the train from Amsterdam. Bruges would be more of a tourist city with more activities to see but also more crowds. Leiden is more of a University town and is not overrun with tourists however there is not the same number of attractions to see. All depends what type of a day trip you are looking for.

[cruisinskier]

Thank you so much for this amazing review and photos. We will be leaving on the 26th for a 14 day Amsterdam to Basel cruise with Scenic so I am doubly enjoying this.

Looking at the memorial pics made me wonder if you had seen the TVO series Apocalypse which just ended this week. It was very thought provoking and,if you didn't see it, I would strongly recommend it should they re screen it. I also saw another show recently that dealt with the Treaty of Versailles in detail. It may have been on Cogeco on demand, sorry can't remember the name.

Having originally come from the UK, I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of the First World War, however, both of these programs proved to me how little I actually knew.

Once again thanks so much for your review,

Mary

 

Hi Mary. Thanks for your kind words. We just returned home on Sunday night so I did not see this series. I will keep an eye out for it if they re-air the show.

 

I thought I had a good awareness of WW1 however visiting the sites in person adds an whole new appreciation for what the troops experienced. May we always remember.....

 

Happy travels and have a great river cruise!

 

Jerry

Edited August 13, 2014 by cruisinskier

[cruisinskier]

After spending most of the day in Leiden, we drove to the Amsterdam airport where we returned our rental vehicle. Given there were 6 of us and with my in-laws not being as mobile (especially with all our luggage), I had arranged a private shuttle to take us from the airport to our apartment in Amsterdam. We used "Shuttle Amsterdam" who actually met us right at the Avis car rental booth as we returned our car. We were also able to pick up the keys for our apartment rental right at the Amsterdam Schiphol airport.

 

With car returned and keys in hand, we set off for the apartment. We thought the shuttle was quite reasonable at 49E for the 6 of us. We found the apartment well located, clean and comfortable for the 6 of us (here is the link to our apartment: http://www.shortstay-apartment.com/amsterdam-apartment/zandstraat-nieuwmarkt-waag-1.html?skip=f&bedroom3=on). We arrived late that evening and got settled into our new home, at least for the next 3 days....

[cruisinskier]

After a few busy days, we wanted a slower start to the day. We slept in a little, found a nearby grocery store and cooked a nice breakfast. We then just wandered around, getting our bearings and soaking in the sights of Amsterdam.

 

 

Shuttle Amsterdam

 

 

You know you are in Amsterdam when this is in your apartment....

 

 

 

Put these over top of your hot tea mug, let the steam heat them, and enjoy!

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

We had tickets early afternoon for the Anne Frank House including the optional English introduction. It was well worth the money and I could not believe the length of the lines for those without tickets while we walked right in. I cannot stress enough, if you want to visit Anne Frank Haus, go online and pre-purchase tickets!! Photos are not allowed inside other than during the introduction.

 

 

 

The very long lines!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

After Anne Frank, we found a nearby cafe, sat along a canal, and watched the world go by....

 

 

The local beer of the day

 

 

 

The most frequent theft in Amsterdam is bikes. Here is a barge full of bikes pulled from the river.

 

 

A fun way to see the canals...

 

 

A traffic jam in Amsterdam.

 

[cruisinskier]

 

Flags all over Amsterdam were at half mast due to the large number of people from the Netherlands who were killed when flight MH17 was shot down a few days earlier.

 

 

Today was declared a national day of mourning in the Netherlands. Church bells rang every 15 minutes all day and that evening there was an organized march which we participated in to pay our respects. There was a very large turnout and it was a moving and solemn experience. Our prayers go out to those who lost loved ones.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2014 by cruisinskier